Students play it, teachers perpetuate it, parents condone it, principals endorse it, and governments legislate it. The “game of school” is that familiar scenario where students’ natural curiosity and desire to learn are replaced with a frantic rush (or a compliant shrug) to do the work, please the teacher, and get the grades. This game is easy to master, but exerts a high price. Can we afford to pay the price in wasted time and idle minds? In this compelling book, Robert L. Fried shows how we can change the rules of the game, reclaim and refocus the learning experience, and ultimately bring joy back into the classroom. The Game of School is filled with interviews and stories of teachers and students who are struggling to put the game of school behind them and engage in authentic learning. We experience the excitement of the first day of first grade; listen to urban teens discuss Shakespeare’s Othello; and meet a college student who is beginning to question her long disengagement with learning. We are introduced to seven types of learners--from “go-getters” to “pluggers” to “rebels”--and find out how the game shapes their relationship to schooling and life.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"In this must-read book, Robert Fried shows us that playing the game of school day after day is an intolerable waste of time and while we are told it will lead to a decent paying job, it actually stupefies us for life’s challenges—including being a decent citizen. He shows why we simply cannot keep doing this to our intellectually feisty youngsters, or to their teachers. Fried has it right in theory and detail, and he shows us, in his lively, poignant, often funny stories form the field, how teachers, parents, and, yes, kids, too, can begin to change this dreadful and unnecessary game."
--Deborah Meier, founding principal and director, New Ventures, Mission Hill School
--Deborah Meier, founding principal and director, New Ventures, Mission Hill School
"This critically important book plumbs the depths of productive vs. unproductive learning and finds a seemingly normal, yet insidious, ‘game’ at its core. Our schools' failure to engage young minds is explained through vivid portraits of teachers who buck the trend Fried is not a nihilist who sees only the dark side. Far from it. He has the courage to describe the Game of School such that readers can accept the metaphor as a tool without which educational reform will continue to be ineffectual."
--Seymour B. Sarason, professor of psychology emeritus, Yale University and, author of And What Do You Mean by Learning?
From the Inside Flap
Students play it, teachers perpetuate it, parents condone it, principals endorse it, and governments legislate it. The "game of school" is that familiar scenario where students' natural curiosity and desire to learn are replaced with a frantic rush (or a compliant shrug) to do the work, please the teacher, and get the grades. This game is easy to master, but exerts a high price. Can we afford to pay the price in wasted time and idle minds?
In this compelling book, Robert L. Fried shows how we can change the rules of the game, reclaim and refocus the learning experience, and ultimately bring joy back into the classroom. The Game of School is filled with interviews and stories of teachers and students who are struggling to put the game of school behind them and engage in authentic learning. We experience the excitement of the first day of first grade; listen to urban teens discuss Shakespeare's Othello; and meet a college student who is beginning to question her long disengagement with learning. We are introduced to seven types of learners—from "go-getters" to "pluggers" to "rebels"—and find out how the game shapes their relationship to schooling and life.
The Game of School offers workable solutions that take into account the reality of a culture consumed with testing, accountability, and the race for college. Fried redefines our common ideas of discipline, curriculum, instruction, grading, motivation, and family involvement in ways that enhance true learning and diminish the game's stranglehold on our curiosity and will. He argues that classrooms are more easily "managed" in a climate of mutual respect, and students are eager for "instruction" when it is challenging and engaging. His "Joy and Misery Index" serves to remind teachers of what really matters most in the classroom.
Thoughtful and inspiring, The Game of School offers suggestions and ideas for teachers, parents, and students who want to free themselves from the ever-tightening grip of a game in which even winners end up losing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this to be a very thought provoking read. It does a good job of laying out some of the problems with school, and the reasons why so many students become disengaged. I also like the interludes, short descriptions of what's happening and how things can be changed for the better.
For me it was like looking in a mirror, it described most of my education, and why I hated school
For me it was like looking in a mirror, it described most of my education, and why I hated school
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Even though my new educator's license required me to take a college class I was not thrilled about, the content of this book is great!
28 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The author gives the impression that the old teaching methods
are outmoded. This is not true in my experience. The standard
lecturing and case study methods are employed because their
use facilitates covering extensive bodies of material in a short
period of time. The work is correct in supplementing existing
methods with innovative approaches to learning. Several examples are cited. i.e.
- students visit a nursing home and paint pictures for the residents
- a final exam may contain a mock trial for critique by the students
The author divides students into classic groups . i.e.
- learners
- true believers
- pluggers
- rebels
The pluggers struggle with the material and rarely learn it
comprehensively. Rebels resent classic teaching methods and
act out their feelings accordingly.
This work has value to teachers/administrators willing to
admit weaknesses in the current system in favor of some
new and innovative approaches. The book also supplements existing
methods with fresh approaches to teaching by the formal lecture method. The author did not emphasize the role of technology
sufficiently . A future version of this book should integrate
computer teaching and teacher technological assessments into
the overall presentation.
are outmoded. This is not true in my experience. The standard
lecturing and case study methods are employed because their
use facilitates covering extensive bodies of material in a short
period of time. The work is correct in supplementing existing
methods with innovative approaches to learning. Several examples are cited. i.e.
- students visit a nursing home and paint pictures for the residents
- a final exam may contain a mock trial for critique by the students
The author divides students into classic groups . i.e.
- learners
- true believers
- pluggers
- rebels
The pluggers struggle with the material and rarely learn it
comprehensively. Rebels resent classic teaching methods and
act out their feelings accordingly.
This work has value to teachers/administrators willing to
admit weaknesses in the current system in favor of some
new and innovative approaches. The book also supplements existing
methods with fresh approaches to teaching by the formal lecture method. The author did not emphasize the role of technology
sufficiently . A future version of this book should integrate
computer teaching and teacher technological assessments into
the overall presentation.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By L. Stampp
Format:Hardcover
This book was a required reading assignment for a graduate level MAT course on curriculum. The book raises some interesting points, however, the points are raised over and over again with redundance. The book could be condensed to half its original size. Great cover! I love the monopoly analogy.
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